The
California Homes and Jobs Act -- SB 391 (DeSaulnier), which would fund our
state Housing Trust fund at an estimated $500 million per year, will have its
first hearing on April 9, 2013, in the Senate Transportation and Housing
Committee. A number of key legislators sit on that committee, so we need a
strong showing of statewide support.
Other SB 391 News
Business Leaders Join Forces, Support SB 391 to Create Jobs
Last week, five prominent California business groups joined forces in calling for legislators to support The California Homes and Jobs Act of 2013 to get California building again, create 29,000 jobs annually, and help businesses attract and retain the talent that fuels California's economy.
In a joint letter to Sen. DeSaulnier, The Bay Area Council, Los Angeles Area Chamber of Commerce, Los Angeles Business Council, Orange County Business Council, and Silicon Valley Leadership Group urged legislators to support SB 391 to keep California businesses competitive:
"CEO's say a lack of housing options within reach of the workforce is a major factor impeding California businesses from attracting and retaining workers....Failure to act now will leave millions without an affordable place to call home and make it incredibly difficult for California business to remain competitive." Read the full letter.
San Francisco Chronicle Highlights SB 391
SB 391 was featured in a San Francisco Chronicle story that spoke to California's growing need for homes that provide shelter for families and vulnerable individuals and help California businesses attract and retain the employees they need to succeed.
Kick-off Action Delivers 173 Letters to Legislators
Thank you for making our first online action a success! Together, we delivered 173 online letters to legislators in support of SB 391.
Our work is just beginning. Right now, legislators are reviewing thousands of bills introduced in the Senate and the Assembly in the last few weeks. Let's put SB 391 at the top of their agenda!
- Take Action: Please use our Action Center to send letters to the members of the Senate Transportation and Housing Committee now. (Remember: Letters sent on company/organization letterhead are even more powerful, so we have a downloadable letter available, too.)
We're on Twitter
We've heard from partners across the state that you are ready to spread the word about SB 391 in 140 characters or less. We've made it easy for you:
- Follow the campaign on Twitter @CAHomesandJobs.
- Use the hashtag #YesonSB391.
Don't forget, we're on Facebook too!
Contact: California Homes and Jobs Act of 2013, info@californiahomesandjobsact.org.
Of
all the 2013 bills introduced in the Legislature, our policy staff is has identified
at least 146 bills that either directly or indirectly
affect housing and homeless policy in California and taken a position on eight
of them. After additional review by our staff, policy committees, and board, we'll
likely take positions on additional bills in late March and April. You can
review our list, including our positions, and get additional
information on any bill on the California Legislative Information website.
Affordable, Transit-Oriented Development Gaining Momentum in Cap-and-Trade Discussions
Thanks
to support from more than 50 organizations and the hard work of the Sustainable
Communities for All coalition, affordable, transit-oriented development is
getting some special attention from members of the California Air Resources
Board (CARB).
In
meetings last week with CARB board members and administration staff, we heard
that the outpouring of support at last month's public workshops highlighted the
benefits of affordable places to live near transit: both mitigating negative
impacts of climate change on the populations with few resources to deal with it
and maximizing the greenhouse-gas reductions that come from changes in land-use
patterns.
Housing
California led the charge in submitting the coalition's comment letter to
CARB in response to their three-year draft investment plan for cap-and-trade
auction proceeds.
If
you haven't already signed on to our Sustainable Communities for All proposal, it's not too late. Contact
Felicity Lyons at flyons@housingca.org.
Contact: Felicity Lyons, NEW direct dial: 916.287.9885 or flyons@housingca.org.
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2013 Homelessness Highlights: Opportunities for New Money, Increased Collaboration, and Improving Existing Programs
The
next few months of the legislative year promise to be busy and could prove to
be extremely rewarding for homelessness advocates. Numerous opportunities to help
reduce and end homelessness exist.
Three of our highest
priority bills would increase funding and resources to create more permanent
supportive homes and affordable rental options for individuals and families
experiencing homelessness.
The
California Homes and Jobs Act -- SB 391
(DeSaulnier) -- would fund our state Housing Trust fund at an estimated $500
million per year, creating stability for the affordable and supportive home
industries and creating thousands of new places to live for our most-vulnerable
Californians.
- Take Action: Please use our
Action Center to send your letters to the Senate Transportation and
Housing Committee.
AB
639 (Perez), the Veterans Housing and Homeless Prevention Act of 2014, would
repurpose $600 million in general obligation bond authority from 2008's
Proposition 12 to create multifamily affordable and supportive homes for
veterans who are homeless or at risk of homelessness.
AB
361 (Mitchell) would tap into the "Health Homes" option of the Affordable
Care Act to fund services in supportive homes.
Additionally, there
is renewed attention on improving collaboration among governmental departments.
The
Assembly Select Committee on Homelessness has been
reauthorized, with several new members. The committee hopes to focus on homelessness
as it pertains to mainstream systems such as health, public safety, and human
services.
Select
Committee member Assemblymember Paul Fong intends to continue his tireless
efforts to create an interagency council on homelessness in California, and will amend his AB 998 as his third attempt to create this
body legislatively. Housing California will continue to support his efforts as
a sponsor of the bill.
Assemblymember
Fong's bill could serve as a complement to the state's engagement in a Policy
Academy on Chronic Homelessness. California was selected as one of four states
to receive assistance from the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health
Services Administration (SAMHSA) to facilitate this policy academy.
There should be three convenings of the academy over the course of 2013, and
efforts will likely focus on increasing the collaboration (and use of
resources) by our state departments to find solutions to reduce and end chronic
homelessness.
Efforts will be made
to make existing programs more flexible for housing providers.
Assemblymember
Bonilla plans on amending AB 1109 to create more flexibility for past
recipients of the Emergency Housing and Assistance Program-Capitol Development
(EHAP-CD). The bill would seek to align our EHAP-CD program with the goals of
federal McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Grants that are now encouraging
conversions of transitional housing into permanent housing. By lifting the
restriction that requires EHAP-CD funded developments to remain transitional
housing or emergency shelters for the life of the EHAP-CD loan, it increases
flexibility for providers to explore conversion into permanent housing, should
they want to shift toward this model, especially as resources to operate transitional
and emergency housing have dwindled.
AB
523 (Ammiano) would allow the director of the California Department of Housing and
Community Development (HCD) to reduce interest rates to zero on HCD loans to
affordable rental developments, if the accruing interest prevents a development
from using low-income housing tax credits. This change would allow some
special-needs developments that currently fail a "true debt test" to
proceed and compete for tax credits.
The
above bills are not exhaustive of all of the homelessness-related legislation
being considered in the Legislature. Housing California's policy committees and
board of directors continue to analyze and discuss legislation.
Contact: Zack Olmstead, NEW direct dial: 916.287.9886 or zolmstead@housingca.org.
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